Prenuptial agreements have become increasingly common. People are realizing that even if they don’t have a fortune to protect, they still want to lay down some ground rules for who walks away with what should the marriage someday end. Further, a Wisconsin prenup Wisconsin can help couples avoid the community property laws of the state.
Young adults often don’t think a prenup is necessary. They’re commonly saddled with student loans and credit card debt and don’t believe they have any assets worth protecting.
What to tell your child
If you’re the parent of one of these young adults, you may know more about what they could stand to lose in a divorce than they do. If your child will inherit your life savings and perhaps all or part of a business, you want to ensure they keep those in a divorce. While inheritances and gifts are typically excluded from division in divorce, if the assets become commingled with marital assets, a spouse could end up with half of them.
If your child is in a relationship or planning to marry, it’s important to talk with them about what kind of assets they’ll want to protect. It’s even better to address this subject before they’re serious about anyone so they can’t infer that you don’t trust their significant other or have much hope for their impending marriage.
Limits to parental involvement
While giving them some idea of the family assets at stake is important, there are boundaries to your involvement. If you cross them, you could end up making any resulting prenup invalid.
For example, you can’t pressure your child’s fiancé to sign a prenup – or encourage your child to pressure them. That includes springing it on them a few weeks before the wedding. If someone can show they were pressured to sign a prenup, it likely won’t hold up in a divorce.
Further, you can’t get too involved in drafting the prenup. That needs to be between the two spouses-to-be and their individual legal representatives. You just need to make sure your child knows what they need to protect and that the prenup must be fair to both parties. If your child and/or their spouse-to-be don’t put a prenup in place, there are other ways to “divorce-proof” any future inheritance for your child.
If you have questions or concerns about talking to your child about a prenup or about what level of involvement is acceptable, it’s smart to get some guidance from an experienced family law professional.